At this point in the year, us NaNoWriMo alumni are all in very different places in our writing life. Some of you are undertaking my Editing Challenge and working towards getting that novel you wrote during NaNoWriMo ready for the world. Others are still finishing their NaNo novel or have already moved on to something else. No matter where you are in your writing life, I want to make sure you’re aware that Camp NaNoWriMo starts on April 1st.
I know many of you are a little foggy on what the deal is with Camp NaNoWriMo so let me explain. It’s an much more casual, flexible version of NaNoWriMo that runs twice during the off season (April and July). There are no MLs, no local events or areas, just cabins which are small groups of people chosen by criteria you choose or randomly.
But the best part about Camp NaNoWriMo is that you aren’t limited to just writing novels AND you can set whatever word count goal you want. If you’re like me and still mourning the loss of Script Frenzy, you can use Camp NaNoWriMo to write a script, or you can use the challenge to do a revision, add words to an existing novel (like maybe that old NaNo one you still need to finish?), or do something completely different like non-fiction or a memoir. If you’re feeling a little stagnant in your writing or haven’t seen your muse in a while, it can be a great way to dip your toe back in. You can set a word count goal as low as 5k words or as big as 99k so it can be as big or as small a challenge as you want to make it.
Your NaNoWriMo login will work on the Camp NaNoWriMo site so there’s no risk in taking a quick peek and maybe setting up a novel.
I’m using this year’s challenge to finish a couple of project so I’ve left my goal at 50,000 words but I’d love to hear what you’ve set yours at and what you’ll be working on. Will you be giving it a try this year?
Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.
